1. Democracy is not a medicine that can be served. It is to be a change of mood of people who feel they are ready and want it. Otherwise, you've just welcomed to the world yet another mismanaged, corrupt, and undecisive bureaucracy that's a weight on the world and self-absorbed nationalistic to the extent of not recognizing where they fall in the world order.


2. Mental/Psychological/Educational gap also creates a Wealth/Maturity gap that is a 200 years or more in some cases. So while on one side you have an ill-prepared/ill-funded bureaucracy trying to handle a 95% even more immature populace (and one that fears getting itself voted out for trying anything different than the will of ill-conceived/backward populace) - their freedom creates the kind of world conflict that we are trying to solve today. a) Government atrocities and b) populace moods - both drive them into deeper isolation as well as positioning against the developed/mature cultures of the world. Is this the basic reason why tradition is always being against progress, and vice-versa? Both believe in different truths and one's good is another's bad. Suggestion is not colonization, but more pervasive global education/modernization/commercialization/privatization. That, more than military deployments or food-medicine aid will fix issues than the current band-aid patches we see being served at steep billing.

"I never received any pay resulting from the credit default swaps that are now losing so much money."

"I think your initial decision to honor the contracts was both ethical and financially astute, but it seems to have been politically unwise. It’s now apparent that you either misunderstood the agreements that you had made — tacit or otherwise — with the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, various members of Congress and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of New York, or were not strong enough to withstand the shifting political winds."

"We have worked 12 long months under these contracts and now deserve to be paid as promised. None of us should be cheated of our payments any more than a plumber should be cheated after he has fixed the pipes but a careless electrician causes a fire that burns down the house."

"Many of the employees have, in the past six months, turned down job offers from more stable employers, based on A.I.G.’s assurances that the contracts would be honored. They are now angry about having been misled by A.I.G.’s promises and are not inclined to return the money as a favor to you."

"So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree."

"On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients."

"As soon as I finish paying the post-medical insurance but nonetheless significant medical bills for my husband's recent surgery, and recalculate our budget, factoring in the 10% involuntary pay cut together with increased state income taxes, I will turn my attention to an extravagant display of empathy for Mr. De Santis' post-tax $742,000 plight. Woe is he. — deranieri, San Diego"

As a side humor, however, guys would keep on doing "tat" to pretty girls if they keep on getting "tit" from them in response. Well, when it comes to that, there's no simple logic/method/formula.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quit, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

- George Carlin

"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge."